THE SUPPLIES.

The supplies voted for this year were, for England and Ireland L52,185,000. The ways and means included a loan of L8,000,000, which was negociated on terms even more moderate than those of the preceding year. No new taxes were proposed, and a very favourable picture was drawn of the general prosperity of the country. Of the money voted, L1,380,000 was devoted to foreign subsidies; nearly L20,000.000 was appropriated to naval services; and nearly L25,000,000 to the land forces and ordnance. A vote of credit was passed for L3,000,009. Mr. Perceval contrasted the state of commercial affairs in England to those of France. Our orders in council, he said, had already reduced the receipts of customs in that country from L2,590,000 to that of L500,000. But these orders had not in reality done all this mischief to the enemy; for a large portion of it must be attributed to Napoleon's war-system, and the working out of his continental system.



THE SLAVE-TRADE QUESTION.

During this session the question of the slave-trade was renewed in the lords by Lord Holland, and in the commons by Mr. Brougham. They moved for addresses requesting the king to persevere in his measures to induce other nations to co-operate in the abolition of slavery, and to take such further steps as might be necessary. By this time it was discovered that persons in this country carried on a clandestine trade in slaves; and the address in the commons prayed that orders for checking such practices might be given to the commanders of his majesty's ships, and to the officers of the customs. Both addresses were agreed to, and a resolution, moved by Mr. Brougham, for taking-measures early in the next session to prevent evasions of Wilberforce's slave-trade act, likewise received the sanction of the house.



PETITION OF THE IRISH CATHOLICS, ETC.

During this session, a petition was presented from the Irish Catholics by Mr. Grattan; but after a long and animated debate it was rejected by a large majority. A motion by Mr. Brande on the subject of parliamentary reform was also negatived by a large majority; as was likewise a resolution, moved in the upper house by Lord Grey, "to take into consideration the state of the nation." Lord Grey prefaced his motion by an eloquent and argumentative speech, in which he dwelt upon the power of Napoleon; the mismanagement of our internal resources; the expediency of conciliating the Roman Catholics; the subjects of parliamentary privileges and reform, &c. On the subject of parliamentary reform he remarked:—"This question has long been one of my most serious contemplation. I took an active part in it at an early age: I pursued my object with all that eager hope and sanguine expectation so natural to the ardour of youth. I will not say that in subsequent times there have not been some differences from my former impressions; but of this I assure your lordships, that on its great grounds it has never been abandoned by me. To the temperate and judicious reformation of abuses I am now a decided friend; and whenever it shall be brought forward, it shall receive from me my most anxious assistance. I never did, nor ever will, rest my views of salutary reform on the ground of theoretic perfection; though I am always ready to correct by the constitution a practical inconvenience when it is practically felt. On this point I was formerly misrepresented by that description of persons who at this day continue the same course. The folly and presumption of the present day have taken up a new doctrine—that every branch and exercise of our constitution was defined by law, and only to be found in the statute-book: but I have understood from the most able men, that the great and fundamental blessing of the British constitution was fixed in the co-operation and harmony of its powers, all leading to free and efficient government."



PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

During this session motions were made by Mr. Par-nell on the subject of Irish tithes; by Mr. Grattan and Lord Donoughmore on Catholic emancipation; and by Sir Samuel Romilly on the reform of our sanguinary criminal laws. These subjects will receive attention in a future page. Beyond this there was nothing of importance taken into consideration this session, which terminated on the 21st of June. The royal speech was again delivered by commission: and it affirmed that Portugal was exerting herself with vigour and energy; and that in Spain, though the French were victorious, the spirit of resistance was unsubdued.



CAMPAIGN IN PORTUGAL.

When Lord Wellington moved his troops from the banks of the Guadiana, he placed them in quarters along the valley of the Mondego. His head-quarters in January were at Viseu; General Hill being left with 10,000 men, half British and half Portuguese, at Abrantes, in order to watch Badajoz and protect Lisbon; while Marshal Beresford was stationed at Thomar. In the meantime the French armies had fully established themselves in Spain. Cadiz indeed defied the proud enemy, and the highest junta retired to the island of Leon, while the wild Sierra Morena carried on a guerilla warfare against the French; but there was no real army to oppose them, and the country might therefore be considered for the time being as conquered. Lord Wellington foresaw that the conquest of this country would lead to the invasion of Portugal; and he turned his whole attention to the defence of that country. And what the English general foresaw soon came to pass. The peace with Austria had enabled Napoleon to send large re-enforcements from Germany into Spain, audit was rumoured that he himself was coming. By the beginning of the month of April, Ney, Kellermann, and Loison, with about 60,000 men, were in Old Castile and Leon, threatening the Portuguese frontier in that direction: as a preliminary step they had captured Astorga, and had made preparations for the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo. General Meigner was also at this time on the borders of Spanish Estramadura, menacing the frontier of Portugal on that side. Subsequently, as Napoleon was now engaged with his bride of Austria, he sent Massena to take the command of the forces in Old Castile and Leon, which now assumed the name of "The army of Portugal," thereby declaring its destination. Massena arrived at Valladolid about the middle of May; and he not only assumed the command over the forces of Ney, Kellermann, and Loison, but also over those of Junot and Drouet, which had recently crossed the Pyrenees from German. In the whole, Massena had a force of 80,000 men under arms for the field; but the corps of Drouet, about 18,000 strong, and the forces of Regnier in Estramadura did not immediately join him in his expedition into Portugal. As it was, however, Massena had a force of about 62,000 men when he first put himself in motion against Lord Wellington. Against these Wellington could only bring about 24,000 British troops, and from 28,000 to 30,000 Portuguese regulars; a part of which he was compelled to leave south of the Tagus, in order to guard against any sudden movement of Soult's army of Andalusia. Moreover, Lord Wellington could only confidently rely on the British forces, as the Portuguese soldiers, whether regulars or militia men, were as yet untried. On the other hand, Massena's soldiers were skilled in the dreadful art of war, and flushed with recent success; so that the odds against Wellington were alarmingly great. The campaign commenced in earnest early in June, when Massena invested Ciudad Rodrigo, which was defended by a Spanish garrison, but which was almost within sight of the British advanced posts on the Azava. The Spaniards made a brave defence; but on the 10th of July Massena made himself master of the place by capitulation. Lord Wellington was taunted by the French, by the Spaniards, and by many of his own officers, for suffering the siege to proceed without making an attempt to relieve the place. His lordship, however, knew his business better than to take any false step by a rash movement: his object and paramount duty was to defend Portugal, and above all Lisbon. He had, in fact, pledged himself to do this; and hence, while the French were taking Ciudad Rodrigo, he calmly retained, his position on the Coa, having his light division advanced a little beyond that river. Subsequent events justified Wellington's line of policy. After the fall of Ciudad Rodrigo, Ney went thundering on till he came in contact with the light division, which was commanded by General Crawford; and though he succeeded in causing the English general to retreat, it cost him 1000 men in killed and wounded. Massena now crossed the frontiers of Portugal; but although he had boasted he would drive Lord Wellington out of that country in three months; he passed nearly one month on the line of the Coa in total inactivity. In the meantime General Regnier quitted Estramadura, crossed the Tagus, and established himself at Coria and Plasencia, while General Hill, making a corresponding movement, took post at Atalaya, from whence he could either join Wellington, or could be again thrown in front of Regnier. At length, on the 15th of August, the French broke ground before Almeida, which was captured on the 27th of the same month, Lord Wellington had brought his army nearer, in order to strike a blow if the enemy should afford an opportunity; but Massena let three weeks pass after the reduction of Almeida before he moved forward; and then, as the rainy season had come on, Wellington moved his army to the valley of the Mondego, and fixed his head-quarters at Gouvea. The French army commenced its march down this valley on the 15th of September, taking its route along the right bank of the river, in the direction of Coimbra, through Viseu. This was the very worst road Massena could have taken; and Wellington, perceiving his error, crossed the river and took up a strong position in front of Coimbra. On the 24th, his whole army, including the Portuguese, and the corps of Generals Hill and Leith, which he had called up for the purpose of assisting in the coming struggle, were collected upon the Serra de Busaco, a lofty mountain-ridge extending from the Mondego to the northward. From these heights, on the 26th, the French army was seen advancing. One of the spectators of the imposing sight says:—"Rising grounds were covered with troops, cannon, or equipages: the widely extended country seemed to contain a host moving forward, or gradually condensing into numerous masses, checked in their progress by the grand natural barrier on which we were placed, at the base of which it became necessary to pause. In imposing appearances, as to numerical strength, I have never seen anything comparable to that of the enemy's army from Busaco: it was not alone an army encamped before us, but a multitude—cavalry, infantry, artillery, cars of the country, horses, tribes of mules with their attendants, suttlers, followers of every description, formed the moving scene upon which Lord Wellington and his army looked down." By the evening of the 26th this army encamped in the plains below Busaco; and on the next morning, as the mist and the gray clouds rolled away, they made two desperate simultaneous attacks on the English, the one on the right and the other on the left of Wellington's position. These attacks were vain: the enemy was repulsed, leaving 2000 killed upon the field of battle, and having from 3000 to 4000 wounded, and several hundreds taken prisoners. Both the British and the Portuguese alike fought valorously; the latter, according to Wellington's own statement, proving themselves on this their first trial to be worthy of contending in the same ranks with the former. Thus checked in his career, on the 28th, the day after the battle, Massena moved a large body of infantry and cavalry from the left of his centre to the rear, and his cavalry was seen marching over the mountains by another road to Oporto Colonel Trant with his Portuguese division was ordered to occupy the pass of Boyalva to the north of Busaco, through which this cavalry must pass; but a Portuguese general had previously ordered this division to inarch elsewhere; and before this could be countermanded, the French descended into the plains that lie open to the sea-coast, and seized on the road leading from Oporto to Coimbra, in the rear of the British. Massena, however, had only made the march which Wellington foresaw he would make, and he now commenced a retreat towards Lisbon. Both the British and the Portuguese effected their retreat with ease and regularity. They were followed by the French, whose van caught sight of the chain of hills behind which lay the city of Lisbon on the 7th of October:

"But in the middle path a lion lay."

Wellington by this time occupied the lines of Torres Vedras, the formation of which have conferred as much honour on him as any of the great victories which he achieved. A recent writer gives this outline sketch of these lines:—"The peninsula, or promontory, at whose south-eastern extremity Lisbon is situated, is crossed rather obliquely by two serras, or chains of mountains, which extend with various altitudes and various degrees of steepness, but with partial interruptions or openings, from the shore of the Atlantic to the right bank of the Tagus. These two serras run nearly parallel with each other, at a distance of from six to eight miles; the point of the line nearest to Lisbon being close to the Tagus, between Via Longa and Quintilla. Through the passes in these serras and the low ground bordering the Tagus four roads from the interior of the country led to the capital. The hand of nature had marked out these two lines of defence, and British science and engineering had been employed for a whole year in strengthening them, and in blocking up the openings which seemed the most accessible. Here redoubts were erected; here the whole face of a mountain was scarped and hewn into the appearance of the facet of some Titanic fortress; here the threads of mountain-rivulets—which would be something more than rivulets at the end of October and in November—were collected and brought together into one bed; and here rivers, tributaries of the great Tagus, were dammed up, or were provided with dams which could be used, and with flood-gates which could be shut, so as to inundate the country at the foot of the hills, on the approach of the invader. The line of defence was everywhere double, while in some parts there was a treble range of batteries and redoubts. The first line, which was twenty-nine English miles in length, began at Alhendra on the Tagus, crossed the valley of Aruda, and passed along the skirts of Monte Agraca, where there was a large and strong redoubt. It then ran across the valley of Zibreira, skirted the deep ravine of Ruda, to the heights of Torres Vedras, and thence followed the course of the little river Zizandre to its mouth on the Atlantic. The second or inner line, at a distance varying from six to eight, and in some parts to ten miles, extended from Quintilla on the Tagus by Bucellas, Monte Chique, and Mafra, to the mouth of the little river St. Lourenco, on the sea-coast, a distance of about twenty-four miles. This was by far the stronger line of the two, both by nature and by art; and if the first line were forced by an enemy, the retreat of the army upon the second was secure at all times. Both these lines were secured by breast-works, abattis, and stone walls, with banquettes and scarps: not an opening nor interstice through which a mountain goat could pass but was blocked up or guarded. Down the hollows in which the roads ran were pointed the black muzzles of numerous guns, projecting from batteries which could maintain a fire in front, and a crossing fire from the flanks. And, to provide for every occurrence, to make sure of a safe and easy passage to our ships of war in the Tagus, there was in the rear of the second line a shorter, closer line, to protect the embarkation of our troops. This innermost line of all was strong enough to check even a brave enemy, had there been no other lines before it: it rested at one extremity on a tremendous redoubt, and at the other on the broad ditch and lofty walls of the castle of S. Julian. About one hundred redoubts or forts, containing altogether more than six hundred pieces of artillery, were scattered along these lines."

Lord Wellington and the allied army entered within the foremost of these lines on the 8th of October. On arriving each division took up its assigned quarters, and the defences, which were strong enough before, were made still stronger. In the whole the troops which manned them amounted to about 130,000; of which 70,000 were regulars, and half of them British. Mas-sena arrived in the plains below Torres Vedras on the 11th: he appears to have been taken by surprise at the sight of Wellington's lines; and he employed several days in examining their nature, and in endeavouring to discover a spot through which he might force a passage. Some demonstrations were made in order to compel the British divisions to exhibit their force; and on the 14th there was some fighting between the town of Sobral and the lines, in which the French were defeated by the English bayonet. The war was now reduced to a species of blockade. The heart of Mas-sena was smitten with despair at the sight of the scarped rocks, and the cannon on the eminences; and the object he had in view now was to support his army till re-enforcements should arrive. In the meantime re-enforceinents had arrived in Wellington's camp from England and Gibraltar, so that he had a force numerically equal to that of the enemy. Massena's situation soon, however, became desperate. In order to starve his opponents Lord Wellington brought down the Portuguese militia from the north, and persuaded Carlos d'Espaua to pass the Tagus with a considerable corps of Spaniards, to co-operate in cutting off all communication with the French rear and, as it were, enclosing the blockades. Massena was reduced to such straits for provisions that he was obliged to send movable columns to scour the country; and, on these columns the independent corps of Portuguese Spaniards sought revenge for desolated homes and slaughtered kindred: they were attacked and slain with as little mercy as they had shown to others. Losses by the sword, by sickness, and by privation, amounting to about 15,000 men since the battle of Busaco, at length induced Massena, on the 15th of November, to make a retrograde movement. He withdrew his army from the low wet grounds in front of Torres Vedras, and placed it in cantonments for the winter: the second, or Itegnier's corps, being placed in and near Santarem; the eighth in Perns; the sixth corps further back, in Thomar; while his head-quarters were at Torres Novas. Before Massena could reach these safe positions, his soldiers were molested by the British light division and cavalry, who took some prisoners. Lord Wellington did not deem it prudent to attack them in these several positions, but leaving part of his army in the lines, he moved forward with the remainder; and having placed Hill's division on the banks of the Tagus, he fixed his head-quarters at Cartaxo. Such were the positions of the belligerent forces during the winter. By his movements Lord Wellington had saved the capital of Portugal, and reduced the enemy to a state of inactivity. The sequel of Massena's invasion of that country belongs to the history of the next year.



AFFAIRS OF SPAIN.

These events in Portugal had the effect of counteracting some of the designs of the French in Spain. During their transaction Soult had been devising measures for the capture of Cadiz; but towards the end of December, instructions arrived requiring him to co-operate with Massena. He repaired to Seville, taking with him Latour Maubourg's cavalry, and 5000 infantry; but such was Lord Wellington's precaution, and such the activity of the partidas, that he could not effect any communication with Massena, as directed. Under these circumstances, Soult represented that as his force was weakened by the blockade of Cadiz, and the protection of Seville, he dared not penetrate into the Alemtejo. This movement, he said, would oblige him to leave Olivenza and Badajoz in his rear, wit-h two Spanish corps under Ballasteros and Mendizabel; and he requested permission to besiege these two places. Napoleon consented to his request, and Soult prepared for a siege of these cities. At this time General Hill was obliged to return home on account of ill health; and the command of the troops, British, Spanish, and Portuguese, on the Tagus, was given to Marshal Beres-ford. The Marshal's instructions were to prevent the passage of the river; to intercept all communication between Massena and Soult; and to join the main army by Vellada if in retreat, and by Abrantes if in advance. His head-quarters were fixed at Chamusea, and his troops dispersed along the Tagus, from Almey-rim to the mouth of the Zezere. During the winter several attacks were made by the irregular forces and Portuguese militia on the French detachments; but each commander waited for re-enforcements before they assumed offensive operations.



FOREIGN CONQUESTS, ETC.

In other quarters of the world our operations this year were of considerable importance. In the lists of our conquests was that of Santa Maura, added to the other Ionian Islands rescued from the French dominion; the Dutch settlement of Amboyna, with its dependent islands; the Dutch settlement of Banda, the principal of the Spice Islands; and the islands of Bourbon and Mauritius. In the latter island a large quantity-of stores and valuable merchandise, five large frigates, some smaller ships of war, twenty-eight merchantmen, and two British captured East Indiamen were taken by the conquerors. In the West Indies a combined naval and military force, under Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane and Lieutenant-General Beckwith, made the important conquest of the island of Guadaloupe, the last colonial possession of France. Nearer home the arms of the British were also successful. In the month of July Murat collected a large armament on the coast of Calabria, for the invasion of Sicily; but 900 of his troops were taken prisoners by General Campbell, and the rest were driven for shelter to their vessels. With similar success the island of Anholt, in the Baltic, was defended by Captain Maurice with 380 men, against a Danish force of eight times the number.



THE MARRIAGE OF NAPOLEON, ETC.

In Paris this year "all went merry as a marriage bell." After the treaty of Vienna at the close of 1809, Napoleon caused it to be intimated to Josephine that she must be supplanted by an imperial bride; and she submitted to his will. His divorce with the faithful Josephine was soon followed by his marriage with the daughter of the Emperor of Austria. On the 11th of March Berthier, acting as his proxy, received, in the palace of Schonbrunn, the hand of the Archduchess Maria Louisa, who soon left the home of her fathers for France. The act of divorcement from Josephine and Napoleon's marriage with the Austrian Princess received the sanction of the senate, who in an address expressed their gratitude for the steps he had taken, and predicted that this "child and champion of democracy" would live to see children and grandchildren, who would perpetuate his empire and the glory of France. Yet it was manifest, even to Napoleon himself, that his marriage was looked upon by the nation at large with dislike. His own clergy, in fact, were ashamed of the scene of the celebration of the marriage at St. Cloud, deeming it neither more nor less than an act of bigamy, while very few of the cardinals or prelates would sanction it by their presence, As for the mass of the people, among them there was a great party that still loathed the name of hereditary monarchy, and that thought it monstrous that a son of the revolution should ally himself with a branch of the "corporation of tyrants." His marriage, in a word, was universally admitted to be a capital error in his political career. Mignet says:—"Napoleon quitted his position and part as a parvenu and revolutionary monarch, who had been acting in Europe against the ancient courts, as the republic had acted against the ancient governments; he placed himself in a bad situation with respect to Austria, which he ought to have crushed after his victory of Wagram, or to have re-established in her possessions after his marriage with the Archduchess. Solid alliances repose only upon real interests, and Napoleon could deprive the cabinet of Vienna neither of the will nor the power to fight him again. This marriage changed also the character of his empire, and separated it still more from the popular feelings and interests; for he now sought after the old French families to decorate his court, and he did all that he could in order to mix and unite together the ancient noblesse and his new noblesse, even as he had mixed royal dynasties." Men were not wanting, however, who thought they saw in this union the guarantee of the welfare of the world and the beginning of a golden age; who conceived that this connexion of the favourite of fortune with one of the most illustrious houses of Christendom would reconcile the revolution with its opponents. "But after fortune had done everything for her ungrateful bosom-child; after the Corsican master of war had arrived to such a degree of glory and power as no mortal had attained before him, he wantonly overthrew by his insatiable ambition the colossal edifice of his grandeur." Some of the acts which tended to his final downfall have been recorded in previous pages: this year added to their number. In the first place, the territory of the Prince Primas was augmented by Hanan and Fulda, and elevated to the grand duchy of Frankfort; but it was declared the hereditary portion of Prince Eugene Beauharnois, because for the future no temporal dominion was to be united with spiritual dignities. At the same time the remnant of the electorate of Hanover was adjoined to the kingdom of Westphalia, reserving a certain revenue for France: and other decrees equally despotic regulated the aggrandizements of Bavaria and Wurtemberg. But one of the most despotic acts which was committed by Napoleon during this year had reference to Holland. To appease his wrath and gratify his revenge, Louis, Napoleon's brother, and King of Holland, interdicted all commerce with England, and agreed that a French army should be established on the coast of Holland for the purpose of seeing this interdict put into execution. Holland was also to equip a fleet for the service of France, and to cede Dutch Brabant, Zealand, and other territories to this insatiable empire. Yet, after all, Napoleon was not satisfied with his brother's rule. French troops approached the capital of Holland, and Louis abdicated in favour of his eldest son, and sought refuge in Austria. Immediately after Napoleon proclaimed the union of Holland with France, and the people of that country were compelled to submit to his lordly will. By the union of the two countries the empire of France numbered 130 departments, and a population of 42,000,000, and Napoleon ruled this vast empire with absolute power. All Europe, in fact, submitted to his yoke in silence: England alone continued the war both by sea and land. But Russia was beginning to wake as from a dream, and to arise "against the world-empire, which approached nearer and nearer to her frontier." The day of retribution was fast approaching, a day when God and man united to punish this haughty ruler of France and his people, for all the desolations they had commited over the fair face of creation. As they had done unto others, so it happened unto them.

{GEORGE III. 1809—1812}



ILLNESS OF HIS MAJESTY—OPENING OF PARLIAMENT, ETC.

By the non-attendance of his majesty at the opening and closing of the session of parliament for some time, it had been suspected that he was suffering under his old distressing malady. This was found to be too true. His illness has been referred to several proximate causes, both of a public and private nature. The cause, however, most commonly assigned for his affliction was the illness and death of his favourite daughter, the Princess Amelia. As her end drew near, she placed a mourning-ring, with the inscription, "Remember me," on the finger of her doating parent, and it is said that he never recovered the shock thus given to his feelings. His mental distress became immediately great, and in a few days the royal family were alarmed by symptoms of that fearful malady which ever afterwards afflicted him. This was on the 20th or 21st of August; and on the 25th, the anniversary of the king's accession to the throne, it was publicly announced that his majesty was labouring under his old complaint. Parliament stood prorogued till the 1st of November, on which day both houses assembled. As the king, however, was not present, and as no communication could be sent, there was no power either to prorogue or to open parliament. Under these circumstances an adjournment for fifteen days was proposed in both houses, and agreed to, and successive adjournments took place until the 13th of December, when they finally met for the transaction of business. In the meantime committees had been appointed to examine the attendant physicians respecting his majesty's health. From them it appeared that there were very slight hopes of his recovery, at least for a considerable period; and, besides, the chancellor of the exchequer had by this time took measures for the appointment of a regency. He brought forward three propositions: one, declaring the king's incapacity for the performance of the functions of royalty; a second, asserting the right of the two houses to supply this defect in the executive power; and a third, that means should be devised for giving the royal assent to a bill on the exercise of the regal authority during his majesty's indisposition. The two former of these propositions were assented to without a division, though not without some opposition from Sir Francis Burdett, who declared his solemn protest against the whole proceedings, as aiming a mortal blow against the constitution. Against the third proposition several exceptions were taken. Mr. Ponsonby, indeed, denied that the houses had a right to command the chancellor to apply the king's seal to an act which was thence to be considered as having the royal sanction, and he moved for an address to the Prince of Wales, praying him to take the regal functions on him during his majesty's illness. Sir Samuel Romilly thought the resolutions inconsistent with each other. He remarked:—"In one, the right of the lords and commons to fill up the vacancy is asserted; and yet that vacancy being acknowledged, the royal assent to a bill is to be procured, to which his majesty can give no assent: the will of the lords and common: can in nowise be construed into the king's will; nor can they by any means legislate for the nation. As well might a set of men in common life make a contract for an insane person, and then employ an individual as his solicitor to affix his seal and signature to the deed: in fact, the personal presence of the king, or of a commission signed by him, was essential to every act of legislation; and if the house could dispense with this in one case, they might in others; they might make war or peace, and say such was the king's pleasure." Mr. Ponsonby's motion for an address to the prince was rejected by two hundred and sixty-nine against one hundred and fifty-seven. All the original resolutions were therefore carried, and the same three resolutions were likewise agreed to by the lords. Mr. Perceval, now, on the 3rd of December, proposed the same limitations and restrictions on the powers of the regent as were passed in 1788. These limitations and restrictions were contained in five resolutions. The first four of these resolutions were agreed to on the same day; but the fifth, relating to the care of his majesty's person was postponed till the next day.

{A.D. 1811}

The fifth resolution of the regency bill was not settled for some days. On the 1st of January an amendment to it, tending to diminish the expenses of the king's household, and to curtail the authority of the queen over that household, was carried against ministers by a majority of thirteen; and this decision was confirmed the next day by the rejection of an amendment moved by Mr. Perceval, which went to restore the fifth resolution to its original state. All the resolutions were then sent up to the lords, who, after some discussion, agreed to them; inserting an amendment in the second for allowing the regent to bestow the peerage upon deserving civilians, lawyers, etc. The commons readily agreed to this alteration in the second clause; and, by an act founded upon the whole, it was provided that the restrictions upon the royal authority, as exercised by the regent, should continue till the 1st of February, 1812, if parliament should be then assembled, and should have been sitting six weeks previously; otherwise, till the expiration of six weeks from the assembling of parliament after that day. A deputation now waited on the prince regent and the queen, to acquaint them with the resolutions which had been passed, and both accepted the office proposed to them, though the prince complained that his powers were to be exercised under so many restrictions and limitations. Their replies were reported to parliament on the 11th of January, when Lord Liverpool moved in the lords a resolution for putting the great seal to a commission for opening the parliament under the regency. This resolution passed the lords, after some opposition from Earl Grey, by a majority of fifty-one against thirty-three, and it was afterwards agreed to by the commons; and then both houses adjourned until the 15th of January, when the session was to be opened for the despatch of business under the regency by the commission thus appointed.



OPENING OF PARLIAMENT BY THE REGENT

Parliament was not opened till the 12th of February, on which day the prince regent, having been previously installed at Carlton-house, opened it by commission. The speech delivered upon this occasion by the commissioners in the regent's name dwelt upon the success of our armies in the Indian seas, and the repulse of the French and Neapolitans in their attack on Sicily; upon the failures of the French in Portugal and at Cadiz; and it expressed a hope that parliament would enable the regent to continue the most effectual assistance to the brave nations of the Peninsula. The whole speech breathed a warlike spirit; and though some deprecated war in the debate which followed on the addresses, they were carried in both houses without a division.



DEBATE ON THE RE-APPOINTMENT OF THE DUKE OF YORK TO THE WAR-OFFICE.

Soon after the installation of the prince regent it was reported that he intended to restore the Duke of York to the office of commander-in-chief of the forces. During the investigation the duke had been warmly defended by the Perceval administration, so that the report was not likely to be ill-founded. On the 25th of May, indeed, the duke's re-appointment was gazetted; and, although the nation seems generally to have acquiesced in the measure, it did not pass without some animadversion in parliament. Lord Milton moved in the commons, that it had been highly improper and indecorous in the advisers of the regent to recommend the re-appointment; but he found few supporters, the motion being lost by a majority of two hundred and ninety-six against forty-seven. The duke signalized his return to office by re-establishing regimental schools on Bell's system.



THE SUPPLIES.

Mr. Perceval brought forward his budget on the 20th of May. The supplies demanded and voted for the year amounted to L58,021,869; out of which sum L20,276,144 were appropriated to the navy; L23,269,940 to the army; L5,012,378 to the ordnance; L2,100,000 to subsidies, etc., for Portugal; and L400,000 as a subsidy to Sicily.



THE BULLION COMMITTEE, ETC.

At this period, from our differences with America, which were not yet settled, as well as from Napoleon's continental system, a considerable commercial depression was felt, together with a derangement in the money-market, arising in a great measure from the necessity that existed of constantly sending specie to the continent. During the preceding year Mr. Horner had obtained the appointment of a committee to inquire into the reason of the high price of gold bullion, and the state of the circulating medium, and of the exchanges between Great Britain and foreign parts. The report of this bullion committee was presented by Mr. Horner on the 6th of May, on which occasion he addressed the house in an elaborate speech, advocating a speedy return to cash-payments, as the only means of saving the credit of the country. The report itself, indeed, tended to recommend this measure to parliament. It stated, that there was an excess in the paper circulation, of which the most unequivocal symptom was the very high price of bullion, and, next to that, the low state of the continental exchanges; that the cause of this excess of bank-notes was to be found in the suspension of cash-payments; there being no adequate provision against such an excess, except in the convertibility of paper into specie; and that the unfavourable state of the exchanges originated in the same cause, and was further increased by the anti-commercial measures of the enemy. The report added, that the committee could see no remedy for the present or security for the future, except the repeal of the Suspension Act; that they thought this could not safely be done at an earlier period than two years from the time of their report; but that they recommended parliament to make early provision for this purpose. This subject occupied the house four long nights, but Mr. Horner's resolutions were all rejected. Subsequently, however, a bill was carried in the lords, which declared that bank-notes should be taken only at their professed value, and deprived the landlord of a summary remedy by distress whenever tender had been made in bank-notes. This bill was strongly opposed in the commons; but it was eventually carried by majorities of about four to one. In the lords, the bill was chiefly opposed by Lord King, who argued that it would create additional mischiefs and inconveniences; that landlords would refuse to grant leases; and that the bill could not effect the object which it professed to have in view, or retard depreciation of bank-notes. Lord King had recently issued a circular-letter to his tenants, that he would no longer receive bank-notes at par, but that his rents must for the future be paid either in English guineas, or in equivalent weight of Portuguese gold coin, or in bank notes amounting to a sum sufficient to purchase such an equivalent weight of gold. In his reply to Lord King's objections, made in the lords, the chancellor, Eldon, insisted that the claim set forth in this circular to his tenants was oppressive and unjust, and that the bill was necessary to prevent such a grievous oppression. He remarked:—"The restriction act of 1797 interfered so far with individual contracts as to say that a debtor should not be arrested, if he tendered his debt in bank-notes: the justice of that enactment has never been, disputed; and is it now to be said, that a tenant shall have his goods or stock seized, because he cannot pay in gold, which is not to be procured? Let us suppose a young professional man, struggling with the world, who has a rent to pay of L90 per annum, and who has L3,000 in the bank, in the three per cents. His lordship demands his rent in gold, but the bank refuses to pay the tenant his dividend in gold. Would not the tenant have a right to say—' As a public creditor, I am refused any other payment than in bank-notes; but here is a legislator—one of those by whose act of parliament I am thus refused to be paid except in bank-notes, insisting up on my paying him his rent in gold, which I cannot procure; and because I cannot procure it, my goods are to be distrained?' Would not this be a grievous oppression? Surely, so long as it should be expedient to continue the cash-suspension act of 1797, this present bill must become a part of it; for otherwise there would be no equality in the situation of different contracting parties, nor would equal justice be dealt out to those who had an equal claim to it; as there could be no justice in leaving the tenant who had tendered bank-notes exposed to be distrained upon by his landlord, whilst the debtor, in other cases, who had tendered bank-notes was exempted from arrest."



SUBJECT OF MILITARY DISCIPLINE.

During this session, the subject of military punishment was discussed in the commons. On this subject Sir Francis Burdett particularly distinguished himself. He moved an address on the subject to the prince regent, in doing which he remarked:—"There are but few persons who know what is the dreadful manner in which this torture is inflicted. The instrument, formed of pieces of whipcord, each as thick as a quill, and knotted, is applied by the main strength of fresh men, relieving each other, until human nature can bear no more; and then, if pains are taken to recover the unhappy sufferer, it is only that he may undergo fresh agony. The most disgusting part of the whole transaction is the attendance of a surgeon—whose business seems to be a profanation of the healing art—to detect any lingering principle of life, which can enable the wretched man to undergo more suffering. I do not believe that in the description which the poets give of hell there are any tortures equal to what is called a military punishment." Sir Francis was ably seconded by Mr. Brougham, who contrasted the conduct of the Duke of Cumberland with the more noble conduct of the Duke of Gloucester, whose regiment was in the highest state of discipline, although there had not been a single flogging in it for more than two years. But though the house had been prepared to ameliorate the condition of the slaves of India, the members were not yet in a temper to soften that of their brethren at home: and the address was rejected by a large majority. Subsequently they showed still less sympathy with the sufferings of their fellow-subjects. A corporal in a militia regiment had been sentenced to one thousand lashes. He received two hundred of these; but it was found that he could not endure anymore, and he was placed in the hospital for three months; when, having recovered, he had the option of undergoing the rest of his sentence, or of serving in a condemned regiment for life in the West Indies, which latter alternative he chose rather than expire under the lash. Colonel Wardle moved for inquiry into this case, and only one was found to vote with him. This apathy manifested in the commons tended to increase the desire of parliamentary reform among the people.



LOUD SIDMOUTH'S MOTION RESPECTING DISSENTING PREACHERS.

In the course of this session Lord Sidmouth introduced a bill, as an amendment of the toleration act; prohibiting any person from obtaining a license to preach, unless he obtained the recommendation of at least six respectable householders of the congregation to which he belonged, such congregation being willing to listen to his instructions. The bill also required that those who intended to be itinerants should bring testimonials, stating that they were men of sober life and character, and qualified to perform the functions to which they aspired. This bill raised a great sensation among dissenters, it being considered liable to be perverted to purposes of intolerance. It encountered, indeed, such a storm of opposition, and the house was so inundated with petitions, that when it came to be read a second time it was rejected without a division.



AFFAIRS OF THE IRISH CATHOLICS.

It was generally understood among the Irish Catholics that the prince regent was favourable to their claims, and his investment with power contributed to increase their activity and zeal. Among other measures, they proposed to establish a committee in Dublin, composed of delegates from each country, for the management of their affairs. But this was deemed unlawful by government; and Mr. Wellesley Pole, the Irish secretary, sent a circular-letter to all the sheriffs and county magistrates, requiring them to arrest all persons engaged in such elections. This letter being brought before parliament excited much discussion; and on the 3rd of March Mr. Pole, having returned from Ireland, stated in explanation that the Catholic committee of 1809, had confined their deliberations to petitioning, whereas the delegates of 1810 were empowered to manage the affairs of the Catholics generally; and that a committee of grievances, which met weekly, imitated all the forms of the house of commons. The opinion of the great law-officers, he said, had been taken by the lord-lieutenant, and the attorney-general had drawn up the circular. This explanation had a due effect noon the house; for when the petition which had been prepared by the committee was presented, although it was supported by the eloquence of Grattan, it was rejected by a majority of one hundred and forty-six against eighty-three. It shared the same fate in the lords, it being thought dangerous to grant any power to men who would be likely to abuse it. The rejection of this petition caused great disturbances in Ireland.



AMENDMENT OF THE CRIMINAL LAW

Among the various statutes of this session there were two which tended to diminish, in the instances of stealing linen and cotton from fields and out-buildings, that long list of offences to which our law assigned the punishment of death. Three other bills, having a similar tendency were passed in the commons, but were rejected by the lords. All these bills were brought in by that enlightened legislator, Sir Samuel Romilly.



PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

Parliament was prorogued on the 24th of July by commission. The speech expressed the regent's approbation of the wisdom and firmness which the two houses had manifested, in enabling him to continue the exertions of the country in the case of our allies, and to prosecute the war with increased activity and vigour. At this time there was an end of all hopes of his majesty's ability to resume the functions of royalty. In the early part of the year his health underwent some variations, with lucid intervals; but the report of the queen's council on the 8th of July stated that his majesty was totally unable to resume his kingly duties.



DISPUTES WITH AMERICA.

The orders in council not being repealed on the 2nd of February, Mr. Pinkney, the American minister in London, was recalled. He had his audience of leave on the 1st of March, from which time the American ports were closed against English ships, and open to those of our enemy. Attempts were made, in the course of the summer, to effect an adjustment of the subjects in dispute; but these failed, and on the meeting of congress in November, the president recommended vigorous measures of preparation both by sea and land. The finances of the American government, however, were little suited to meet the expense of a war; and the friends of peace, though outvoted in the legislative assemblies, yet felt confident that the prospect of loans and taxes would cool the military ardour of a people unaccustomed to such burthens.



CAPTURE OF JAVA.

A formidable expedition was this year fitted out by Lord Minto, Governor-General of India, and placed under the command of Sir Samuel Auchmuty, against the Dutch settlements in the island of Java. A landing was effected without opposition on the 5th of August, and by the 8th the city of Batavia was captured without resistance. Its garrison retreated to a fortified position within two miles of Cornells, where General Jansens was stationed with the principal Dutch force. These works were now assailed, and they were carried by assault on the 26th; and the whole of the Dutch army was either killed, captured, or dispersed. Jansens fled to Samarang, and prepared for defence; but he was soon compelled to capitulate, and then the whole island of Java surrendered to the British arms.



AFFAIRS OF PORTUGAL.

During the months of January and February the English and French armies in Portugal remained in their respective positions. The French marshal, Mas-sena, was re-enforced by the ninth corps, under General Drouet; and about the same time Soult received orders from Napoleon to act in concert with him by attacking Portugal south of the Tagus; and a new French army was formed in the north of Spain, consisting of about 70,000 men, and placed under Marshal Bessieres, who was ordered to give all the assistance he could to the army of Portugal. Soult, as before seen, moved towards the frontiers of Portugal; but deemed it indispensable to reduce Olivenza and Badajoz, before he crossed them, lest he should leave a Spanish garrison in his rear. Napoleon had given his generals directions to keep the English in check, and to cause them loss of men every day by engagements of advanced guards, until the season became favourable for main operations. Wellington, however, was too cautious to waste his army in affairs of advanced guards, or in any useless skirmishes or operations, so that he kept his forces entire; and at the beginning of March he was re-enforced by about 7000 men. By this time Massena's army had so eaten up the country that he found it necessary to move his quarters. He retreated to the frontiers of Spain, followed by the English, who in the course of the pursuit cut off many of the fugitives, and took much baggage and ammunition. When, indeed, Massena, re-crossed the frontiers of Spain, his loss, including the sick and wounded, amounted to no less than 45,000 men. But Massena still counted 40,000 men, besides the garrison left in Almeida; and having placed his army in cantonments between the Coa and Agueda, and given instructions for the blockade of Almeida, Lord Wellington departed for the south, to see the state of affairs on the Guadiana and the country near Badajoz. Thus terminated the third French invasion of Portugal.



AFFAIRS OF SPAIN, CAPTURE OF BADAJOZ, ETC.

During his pursuit of the French army, Lord Wellington was mortified by the intelligence that Soult had captured Badajoz. He had besought the governor, General Menacho, to make a good stand, and promised him speedy assistance; but, unfortunately, the Governor was killed by a cannon-ball, and the command of the garrison devolved upon General Imaz, who proved unworthy of his trust. Although General Imaz knew that Massena was retreating, and that Wellington would soon send him succours, before any practicable breach was made in the walls; and although he was able to hold out for one month, he held up the white flag and suspended hostilities. Badajoz was surrendered on the 11th of March, the garrisons becoming prisoners of war: 9000 Spaniards surrendered to a besieging army which did not exceed 9600 infantry, and 2000 cavalry.

After the fall of Badajoz Soult put his troops in motion to cross the Guadiana and the southern frontier of Portugal; but intelligence from Andalusia induced him to give up the command to Mortier, and to repair to Seville. General Graham, who commanded at Cadiz, when Soult departed from thence, concerted a plan with the Spaniards to drive Marshal Victor out of his lines. For this purpose 10,000 infantry, and 600 cavalry of the allies, being embarked at Cadiz, were landed in February at Algesiras, from which place they marched to Tarifa. At Tarifa they were joined by a considerable British, German, and Portuguese force, and the whole was placed under the command of the Spanish General La Peha. The combined forces marched in the direction of Medina Sidonia, and when within four leagues of the enemy's posts, they were re-organized: the vanguard being given to General Lardizabal; the centre to the Prince of Anglona; the reserve, composed of the British and two Spanish regiments, to Graham; and the cavalry to Colonel Whittingham, an English officer in the Spanish service. On the morning of the 5th of March the allies arrived on the low ridge of Barossa, about four miles from the mouth of the river Santi Petri. A successful attack on the rear of the enemy's lines opened the communication with the Isle of Leon; after which General Graham moved down to the Torre de Bermesa, about half-way to the Santi Petri, to secure the communication across that river, over which a bridge had been recently thrown. He moved on through the wood in front, but when he had advanced into the middle of the wood, he received notice that the enemy was advancing towards the heights of Barossa; and considering that position as the key to Santi Petri, he instantly made a counter-march to support the troops left for its defence. Before the troops of Graham, however, could reach the ridge of Barossa, the troops left for its defence were obliged to retire, and the left wing of the enemy was rapidly ascending those heights. To retreat in the face of a superior enemy would have exposed the allies to great danger; and, relying on the courage of his troops, General Graham determined on an immediate attack. He was successful: in an hour and a half the French were in full retreat, leaving behind them 3000 killed and prisoners, and some of their cannon. The English, however, lost 1,243 in killed and wounded, among whom were several officers high in estimation; and General Graham finding it impossible to procure supplies, withdrew the next day across the Santi Petri, and afterwards returned to the Isle of Leon. La Peira, whose co-operation in this movement did him no honour, returned with his forces to Cadiz, and the French resumed the blockade.

In the meantime Marshal Beresford, acting under the directions of Lord Wellington, had directed his efforts against Badajoz. He invested that city on the 8th of May; but he had scarcely commenced the siege when intelligence arrived that Soult was returning thither with 15,000 men for its relief. Beresford immediately suspended his operations, removed the battering cannon and stores to Elvas, and being joined on the 14th by the Spanish Generals Castanos and Blake prepared to meet the enemy. Soult appeared in front of the allies, with a force of about 20,000 men; 5000 having joined him in his route. They were attacked by him on the next day; but after a fearful slaughter on both sides, the enemy was driven back across the river. Soult retired to the ground he had previously occupied; and on the night of the 17th he commenced his retreat towards Seville, leaving Badajoz to its own defence. The British sustained a greater loss in this battle than in any that had been fought in the Peninsula; but the steadiness and gallantry of the troops obtained the highest commendations not only from their commander, but from both houses of parliament.

Shortly after this battle Lord Wellington joined General Beresford, and the siege of Badajoz was recommenced. He had left his army opposed to Massena in the north of Portugal under General Spencer, and about this time Massena was recalled to France, and Marmont became Spencer's opponent. Marmont was resolved to succour Badajoz, if possible; and for this purpose he sent 15,000 men, under Drouet, to re-enforce Sonlt if he should be again able to advance to its relief. This had the effect of quickening Lord Wellington's operations upon Badajoz: two different attacks were made upon it; but though his troops behaved with their accustomed valour, both attempts failed, and the siege was soon after raised.

In other parts of Spain during this year, the patriots were equally unfortunate. Thus the French marshal Suchet took Tarragona by assault; General Blake was repulsed by the enemy in an attack on Niebla; Soult defeated the army of Marcia, in the vicinity of Baza; Figueras was re-taken by the French general, Macdonald; the Spanish general, Abudia, was defeated by Dorsenne in the vicinity of Astorga; Suchet captured the town and castle of Murviedro; and General Blake was attacked by Suchet in December, and compelled to retire within the walls of Valencia. On the 4th of September Lord Wellington formed the blockade of Ciudad Rodrigo; but on the 25th he retired, and his rear was attacked by Marmont. The infantry, however, forming a square, and presenting a firm front, retreated without being broken. General Hill, with a division of the allied army, surprised and completely routed a French column on the 28th of October, taking 1400 prisoners and all Girard's artillery, baggage, &c, together with the money which he had levied at Merida. About the same time also the Baron d'Eroles defeated the French near Perigeorda. After Marmont had relieved Ciudad Rodrigo he retraced his steps to the valley of the Tagus; and the allied army went into cantonments, Lord Wellington resolving in the course of the winter to collect such materials as would enable him to carry Ciudad Rodrigo by a more effectual and rapid method than that of blockade.

{GEORGE III. 1809—1812}



NAVAL AFFAIRS

The navy of England had not at this period any adequate antagonist to encounter, so that it was only by occasional surprises that it could perform any achievements. During this year, however, there were several severe frigate fights and in-shore operations. In the Adriatic Sea, Captain William Hoste obtained, on the 13th of March, with four English frigates, a complete victory over five French frigates and six smaller vessels, with five hundred men on board. Another victory was gained near Foul Point, Madagascar, by Captain Schomberg, who with three frigates and a sloop recovered Tamatava, which had been recently re-captured by the French, and captured all the vessels in the port, including the commodore's frigate. A gallant exploit was also performed at Sagone-bay in the island of Corsica by Captain Barrie, who with three frigates burned three armed vessels laden with timber for the dockyards at Toulon, although they were protected by strong batteries and a martello-tower, and defended by two hundred soldiers. On the 24th of August, likewise, Captain Ferris, hoisting French colours, sailed up the Garonne, and captured five French vessels without losing a single man in the enterprise. The actions of this year, indeed, are too numerous to recount. Our fleets and squadrons were engaged in all the four quarters of the globe, and the vessels of the enemy could nowhere move in safety while his coast was kept in continual alarm.



AFFAIRS OF FRANCE.

Fortune still seemed to smile on Napoleon. According to outward appearance everything was still in his favour. On the 20th of March his cup of prosperity seemed to be full; for his empress, Maria Louisa, was safely delivered of a son, to whom was given the titles of Napoleon Francis Charles Joseph, Prince of the French Empire, and King of Rome! Congratulatory addresses were poured in from all the departments and all the principal cities of France, as well as from Belgium, Holland, the Hanse Towns, the confederated states of the Rhine, and from Italy. Soon after this Napoleon opened the session of the Corps Legislatif. In his speech he told the members that his son would answer the expectations of France, and bear to their children the sentiments which his father now bore to them; that they must never forget that their happiness and glory were dependent on the prosperity of the throne which he had raised, consolidated, and aggrandized by them and for them, and that the love of France was their first duty. This must have sounded oddly in the ears of some of the members; for at this time Dutchmen from Holland, &c, Germans from the Hanse Towns, Swiss from the Valais, which was now incorporated with France, and Italians from the confiscated states of the church had taken their seats in the Corps Legislatif. With conscious pride Napoleon also declared to these "complaisant tools of tyranny," that French dominion during the last year had been extended over sixteen departments, containing five millions of people; the mouths of the Rhine, Meuse, and Scheldt, together with the whole course of the latter river, were now French; that improvements on a gigantic scale had taken place throughout the empire; and that its finances were in such a state that France could go on for ten years without borrowing money. It is possible, however, that Napoleon in making this last assertion had an eye to the plunder of some rich kingdoms, for it was well known that France was not in a prosperous condition. At this very time, indeed, the French, having lost their colonies, were substituting roasted horse-beans for coffee, and extracting sugar from beet-root. The boast of Napoleon, however, was pleasing to a vain-glorious people, and none dared dispute his word. Subsequently to making it, accompanied by his young empress, he visited Ostend, Antwerp, and Amsterdam, where he announced the division of the departments of Holland, and their proportion of the annual expenses. On his return to Paris, however, the course of events bid fair to run more roughly with Napoleon than they had hitherto done. All the cabinets of Europe were at this time anxious to break their fetters, and a rupture with Russia had become inevitable. The czar was offended by Napoleon's seizure of Oldenburg, the extension of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and the continued occupation of Dantzic, and prepared for a contest; and Napoleon replied to his menaces by angry complaints, and by calling out fresh conscripts in order to meet him in the field. At the close of the year 1811 the preparations for war were on such a gigantic scale, that most men in France saw they would be followed by an unprecedented campaign.



CHAPTER XXIX.

{GEORGE III. 1812—1814}

Meeting of Parliament..... Augmentation of the Civil List..... Bill for Prohibiting the Grant of Offices in Reversion, &c...... Changes in the Ministry, &e...... Attacks upon Ministers..... Assassination of Mr. Perceval..... Administration of Lord Liverpool..... Financial Statements..... Population Returns, &c...... Bill for Preservation of the Peace..... Bill to extend the Privileges of Dissenters..... Prorogation of Parliament, &e...... Capture of Ciudad Rodrigo by the British..... Storm and Capture of Badajoz..... Operations in Spain..... War between France and Russia..... War with America..... Meeting of the New Parliament..... Debates on the War with America..... Financial Statements..... Renewal of the East India Company's Charter..... The Catholic Question..... Curates' Bill, &c...... Appointment of Vice-Chancellor..... Delates on the Treaty with Sweden..... Prorogation of Parliament..... Affairs of Spain..... American Campaign..... Meeting of Parliament..... Bill for allowing the Militia to volunteer into the Line.



MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

{A.D. 1812}

Parliament re-assembled on the 7th of January, when the speech of the prince-regent was delivered by commission. It dwelt chiefly on the events which had happened in the Peninsula, and on the differences which existed between England and America. The addresses were carried in both houses without a division, though not without debate and censure. In the lords, Grenville and Grey denounced the measures of government in no very soft language as regarded their war and foreign policy, and uttered some predictions of calamities which must follow any new rupture with America. In the commons Sir Francis Burdett proposed instead of an address a strong remonstrance to the regent, containing an elaborate statement of grievances, among which the constitution of the house was one of the most conspicuous. In making this proposal, the right honourable baronet declared that Englishmen for the last eighteen years had been daily losing their liberty; that a detestation of French liberty had produced the present war; that nothing had been done for Spain, and that if its cause was now taken up by the British government it had become hopeless; that the victories won by our armies were useless; and that parliament should be reformed.



AUGMENTATION OF THE CIVIL LIST.

At this time no change had taken place in the indisposition of the king. The general impression on the minds of the people, indeed, was that his recovery was hopeless, that the remainder of his days would be spent in mental debility. This impression was heightened when, in the house of commons, in a committee to consider the question of the king's household, Mr. Perceval stated that, according to the physicians, the expectation of his majesty's recovery was diminished. Under these circumstances he laid before the house the measures proposed to be adopted. Several objections were taken to his plan; but the following resolutions were finally agreed to:—"1. That, for making provision for the due arrangement of his majesty's household, and for the exercise of the royal authority during the continuance of his majesty's indisposition, and for the purpose of enabling the queen to meet the increased expenses to which, in consequence of such indisposition, her majesty may be exposed, there be granted out of the consolidated fund of Great Britain the yearly sum of L70,000. 2. That it is expedient that provision be made for defraying the expenses incident to the assumption of the personal exercise of the royal authority by his royal highness the prince regent, in the name and on the behalf of his majesty." The bill framed upon these resolutions encountered some opposition, but they passed triumphantly. A large addition was also subsequently made to the income of the princesses; and it was in vain that some honourable members pleaded internal distress, and urged that such demands were not needed: the courtly zeal of parliament prevailed.



BILL FOR PROHIBITING THE GRANT OF OFFICES IN REVERSION, ETC.

As the bill for prohibiting the grant of offices in reversion was now about to expire, Mr. Bankes introduced a new bill in order to render the measure permanent. This was opposed on the second reading by Mr. Perceval, and thrown out; and then Mr. Bankes proposed a bill for the same purpose, but limited to two years. This met with no opposition in the commons, and it was carried through the lords after the rejection of an amendment proposed by Earl Grosvenor for continuing its operation to 1840. At a later date Mr. Bankes brought in a bill for utterly abolishing many sinecure places, and this was carried against ministers by a majority of one hundred and thirty-four against one hundred and twenty-three. On the 7th of May Mr. Creevey also called the serious attention to the tellerships of the exchequer, now held by the Marquess of Buckingham and Lord Camden, which offices were as old as the exchequer itself, and conferred a vested right, with which it was held parliament could not interfere. He moved a series of resolutions, the last of which declared:—"That it is the duty of parliament in the present unparalleled state of national expenditure and public calamity, to exercise its rights still further over the fees now paid out of the public money at the exchequer, so as to confine the profits of the two tellers to some fixed and settled sum of money more conformable in amount to the usual grants of public money for public services, etc." Ministers opposed this motion, and it was lost without a division. An amendment, likewise, proposed by Mr. Brand, for appointing a committee to inquire into precedents, was rejected by a large majority. In these debates the greater part of the opposition took the part of ministers, but in the minority were Whitbread, General Fergusson, Lord Tavistock, Lord Archibald Hamilton, and Mr. Brougham. But though parliament would not interfere in these vested rights, in November of this year the two noble tellers intimated their intention of appropriating to the public service a third of their salary and fees from the 5th of January next to the end of the war: this was an act of true patriotism. Before the session closed an attack was made upon another patent place, that of the office of registrar of the admiralty and prize courts. A bill for regulating this office was brought in by Mr. Henry Martin, but it was rejected by a majority of sixty-five against twenty-seven. In the course of this last debate it was made to appear that Lord Arden, the registrar, whose fees amounted to about L12,000 a year, had made L7000 a year more by interest and profits of suitors' money, and that he had sometimes above L200,000 of such money employed at interest. A bill, however, proposed by Mr. Perceval himself, which declared that the registrar should be entitled to one-third part only of the fees of his office, and that the remaining two-thirds should go to the consolidated fund, was carried, though not without some opposition. This was noble conduct on the part of Mr. Perceval; for this office had been granted in reversion to his elder brother, Lord Arden, and after Lord Arden's death it was to revert to Mr. Perceval himself. Its merits were, however, lowered by the consideration that the reductions of emoluments were not to take place till after the expiration of the existing present and reversionary interests; that is, till after the deaths of Lord Arden and Mr. Perceval.



CHANGES IN THE MINISTRY, ETC.

At this period the present cabinet was not only weak but distracted. The Marquess Wellesley, indeed, who was dissatisfied with some of his colleagues, had signified his intention of resigning almost as soon as parliament met, although he agreed to hold office till the expiration of the year to which the restrictions on the regent were limited. He resigned on the 19th of February, and he was succeeded as secretary for foreign affairs by Lord Castlereagh. Six days before the resignation of Marquess Wellesley the regent wrote a letter to his brother, the Duke of York, in which he began with alluding to the fast approaching expiration of the restrictions; stated that motives of filial affection had induced him to continue the present cabinet; adverted to the success of his first year's administration, and expressed a hope that a new era was arriving. He concluded with these words:—"Having made this communication of my sentiments, I cannot conclude without expressing the gratification I should feel if some of those persons with whom the early habits of my public life were formed would strengthen my hands, and constitute a part of my government. With such support, and aided by a vigorous and united administration, founded on the most liberal basis, I shall look with additional confidence to a prosperous issue of the most arduous contest in which Great Britain was ever engaged. You are authorized to communicate these sentiments to Lord Grey, who I. have no doubt will make them known to Lord Grenville." The prince's letter was shown to both Grey and Grenville, but they flatly refused to join the Perceval administration. The letter, and their reply to the Duke of York, were published in all the newspapers of the kingdom, and from this moment the Whigs began to revile the Prince of Wales, whom they had so long flattered and applauded. They had anticipated a return to power under his rule; and when they discovered that he adhered to his father's line of policy, they no longer looked up to him as their rising sun. The old cry was indeed raised, that there was something behind the throne stronger than the throne itself, something that was subversive of the constitution. Earl Grey declared in the house of lords that the ministry depended for its existence upon an unseen influence; a power alien to the constitution; a disgusting and disastrous influence which consolidated abuses into a system, and which prevented both complaint and advice from reaching the royal ear; an influence which it was the duty of parliament to set its branding mark upon. Both in and out of parliament it was asserted that Lord Castlereagh's return to office was the effect of the influence of a certain lady, and the auspices of the Hertford family.



ATTACKS UPON MINISTERS.

These murmurs broke out into open attacks upon the cabinet. On the 19th of March Lord Boringdon moved in the house of lords for an address to the prince regent, beseeching him to form an administration so composed as to unite the confidence and good will of all classes of his majesty's subjects. His real meaning was that the regent should form a Grey and Grenville administration; but his irregular, if not unconstitutional motion, was got rid of by an amendment proposed by Lord Grimstone, which was carried by one hundred and sixty-five against seventy-two. A more violent attack on the ministry was subsequently made by Lord Donoughmore, when he moved for a committee on the Roman Catholic claims; but though his lordship's motion was seconded by the Duke of Sussex his motion was lost: his speech was too much tainted with private pique to be heeded by parliament. A similar motion, urged by the eloquence of Mr. Grattan in the commons, met with a similar fate. At a later period, however, Mr. Canning carried a motion in opposition to ministers, pledging the house to consider early next session the state of the laws affecting the Roman Catholics of Great Britain and Ireland. In the lords a similar proposal made by the Marquis Wellesley was rejected.



ASSASSINATION OF MR. PERCEVAL.

During this session, as the continuance of outrages in several of the manufacturing counties continued, a severe law was enacted, which made the breaking of frames and administration of oaths a capital felony. These commotions were generally attributed to the operation of our orders in council, diminishing the demands for articles of British manufacture; and petitions were presented to both houses for a revocation of these edicts. In compliance with the general wish, a formal inquiry was instituted; but while it was depending, its leader was suddenly cut off by a tragical death. As Mr. Perceval, on the 11th of May, was entering the lobby of the house of commons he was shot through the heart, and after uttering a slight exclamation and staggering a few paces, he expired. The assassin, whose name was Bellingham, made no attempt to escape, and he was immediately arrested. Apprehensions were at first entertained that there might be a conspiracy; but it was soon discovered that no other person had been concerned with him, and that there was no mixture of political feeling in his motives. Bellingham had been a merchant; and in a commercial visit to Russia some time before he had met with serious losses, which he attributed to violence and injustice. He had repeatedly addressed Lord G. Leveson Gower, who had been our ambassador at Petersburgh, and he had presented memorials to the treasury, soliciting a compensation for losses; but these losses not having been incurred in the course of any public service, were considered as affording him no title to compensation. Mr. Perceval had rightly refused to listen to his applications; but Bellingham was enraged at his refusal, and resolved to sacrifice his life. He was found guilty of murder at the Old Bailey, and he underwent the extreme sentence of the law within one week of his perpetration of the fearful deed. Two days after the assassination parliament voted L50,000 for the children of the sacrificed minister, and L2000 to his widow for life. Subsequently another pension was voted to his eldest son, as was also a monument for the deceased in Westminster Abbey. The talents of Mr. Perceval were not splendid, but as chancellor of the exchequer he displayed considerable skill in augmenting the public burdens at a time when the war was conducted on a scale of unprecedented expenditure. His advancement seems to have been owing to his inflexibility on the Catholic question, at a time when a majority of the talented members of parliament was in favour of some concession. But if Mr. Perceval's talents were not of the highest order, in private life few persons were more deservedly respected, and whose death was in consequence more lamented. Sir Samuel Romilly, in his "Diary of Parliamentary Life," remarks that he could hardly have accompanied his refusal to listen to Bellingham with any harshness, for few men had ever less harshness in their nature than he had. A recent writer also says:—"We remember well walking through the populous streets and suburbs of the capital on that afternoon and evening, and seeing the mixed feelings of horror and pity expressed on almost every countenance."



ADMINISTRATION OF LORD LIVERPOOL.

Considerable difficulty was experienced in supplying the vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr. Perceval. Overtures were made to the Marquis of Wellesley and Mr. Canning; but they refused to associate themselves with government, assigning as their reason the avowed sentiments of ministers on the Catholic question. An address was moved to the prince regent on the 21st of May, by Mr. Stuart Wortley, praying that he would take such measures as might be best calculated to form an efficient government. This address was carried; and in his reply the prince regent said he would take it into his most serious consideration. The Marquis of Wellesley was the first applied to; and he proposed, as the chief conditions on which the new cabinet should be formed, the early consideration of the Catholic question, and the more vigorous prosecution of the war in Spain. He attempted to form a ministry on these conditions, but failed; and at length, on the 8th of June, Lord Liverpool informed the house of lords that the prince regent had that day appointed him first commissioner of the treasury, and had authorized him to complete the arrangements for the ministry. The principal accessions made to the cabinet by Lord Liverpool were Lord Sidmouth as secretary of state for the home department; the Earl of Harrowby as lord president of the council; and Mr. Vansittart as chancellor of the exchequer.



FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.

On the 17th of June Mr. Vansittart, the new chancellor of the exchequer, brought forward his budget, which had been nearly arranged by his predecessor. The charges were stated at L7,025,700 for Ireland; and L55,350,648 for Great Britain. This was a terrible extent of charge, he said; but great as it was, the resources of the country were still equal to it. By an enumeration of ways and means, he produced a result of L55,390,460, including a loan of L15,650,000; but there had been previously a loan of L6,789,625; which, added to the new loan, and to exchequer-bills funded this year, created an annual interest of L1,905,924. To provide for this Mr. Vansittart proposed to discontinue the bounty on printed goods exported, and to increase the duties on tanned hides, glass, tobacco, sales by auction, postage of letters, and assessed taxes. The aggregate product of these increased duties were estimated at L1,903,000. The augmentation of the duty on leather was strongly opposed; but the whole budget received the sanction of the house.



POPULATION RETURNS, ETC.

During this session returns under the population act were laid before parliament. From these returns it appeared that Great Britain in 1801 had a population of 10,472,048 souls, and in 1811 no less than 11,911,644. These results revived the question of population compared with its means of subsistence. It appeared by accounts produced about this time, that during eleven years, from 1775 to 1786, the average quantity of grain imported was 564,143 quarters, from 1786 to 1798, 1,136,101 quarters, and from 1799 to 1810, 1,471,000 quarters. The average prices were in the first period named thirty shillings per quarter, in the second forty shillings, and in the third sixty shillings. During the last year no less a sum than L4,271,000 went out of the country to purchase subsistence for its inhabitants. It must be remembered, however, that at this period vast tracts of land remained uncultivated, and that the science of agriculture was but imperfectly understood.



BILL FOR PRESERVATION OF THE PEACE.

On the 27th of June the regent sent a message to each house of parliament, acquainting them that he had ordered copies to be laid before them of the information recently received relative to riots which had recently occurred in the cotton manufacturing districts of Lancashire and part of Cheshire, the clothing districts of Yorkshire, &c, confiding in their wisdom to adopt measures for restoring tranquillity. These papers were referred to a secret committee in each house, and the result was the introduction of a severe bill for the preservation of the public peace in the disturbed districts. Some members questioned the extent of the danger and the policy of the coercive bill; but it was carried through both houses.



BILL TO EXTEND THE PRIVILEGES OF DISSENTERS.

On the 10th of July Lord Castlereagh brought in a bill to extend the privileges of the dissenters. This bill, which proposed to repeal certain intolerant statutes and to amend others, relating to religious worship and assemblies, &c. was carried. A bill for improving the ecclesiastical courts in England also received the sanction of the legislature.



PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT, ETC.

Parliament was prorogued on the 30th of July by commission; and on the 20th of September a proclamation was issued by the prince regent, announcing its dissolution.



CAPTURE OF CIUDAD RODRIGO BY THE BRITISH.

During the latter months of the preceding year Lord Wellington had been secretly preparing the means of recapturing Ciudad Rodrigo, the possession of that place still serving the French as a basis of operations on one of the frontiers of Portugal. His situation, says a Peninsular historian, was simply that of a man who felt that all depended on himself; that he must by some rapid and unexpected stroke effect in the field what his brother could not effect in the cabinet. Mar-mont favoured his designs on this place; for, deceived by his apparent careless attitude, the French armies were spread over an immense tract of country, and Ciudad Rodrigo was left unprotected. Lord Wellington marched against it early in January; and in twelve days from its first investment Ciudad Rodrigo was recaptured. In the assault the British suffered severe loss, there being in the whole about 1000 killed and wounded, among whom were many officers. General Mackinnon, and many of his brigade, were blown up by the explosion of a powder-magazine on the ramparts, and General Craufurd was mortally wounded. The loss of the garrison was also about 1000, besides 1700 prisoners. For the capture of this piece the Spanish Cortes passed a vote of thanks to Lord Wellington, and conferred on him the title of Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo. In England also his lordship obtained a step in the peerage, being created Earl of Wellington, with an annuity of L2000 annexed to the title. Thanks were voted by parliament both to him and his brave army.

The recapture of Ciudad Rodrigo was attended with fearful scenes. Colonel Napier says:—"Throwing off the restraint of discipline the troops committed frightful excesses: the town was fired in three or four places; the soldiers menaced their officers, and shot each other; intoxication soon increased the tumult; and at last the fury rising to absolute madness, a fire was wilfully lighted in the middle of the great magazine, when the town, and all within it, would have been blown to atoms, but for the energetic courage of some officers and a few soldiers, who still preserved their senses." After order had been restored, orders were given to repair the breaches and level the intrenchments, while means were taken to provision the place.

{GEORGE III. 1812—1814}



STORM AND CAPTURE OF BADAJOZ.

Having recovered Ciudad Rodrigo, Wellington resolved to attempt the recovery of Badajoz. In preparing for this enterprise great secrecy was maintained; and when all was ready, his lordship, leaving one division of his army on the Agueda, marched with the rest from the northern to the southern frontier of Portugal. His artillery had previously been conveyed from Lisbon by sea to the Setubal river, whence it was carried by land across the Alemtejo to the banks of the Guadiana; and on the 16th of March Lord Wellington crossed that river, and immediately invested Badajoz. The Picurina, an advanced work separated from the body of the place by the small river Ribillas, was taken on the 25th, and on the 26th two batteries opened on the town. Expedition was essential; for at this time Marshal Soult was preparing for its relief, and Marmont, in the hope of effecting a diversion had entered Portugal, and was ravaging the country east of the Estrella. Thus called upon to action on the 6th of April, after three breaches were reported to be practicable, Lord Wellington gave orders for storming the place at ten o'clock that night. Badajoz was captured, but it was with great loss, owing to the formidable obstacles encountered by the allies. General Philippon, the governor of Badajoz, had adopted such an ingenious defence that effectually stopped the way of the British, that had not General Picton succeeded in carrying and establishing himself in the castle, and General Walker in entering the town by escalade in an opposite direction, the attempt might have failed. These successes distracted the French; and Lord Wellington, who had ordered his divisions to retire from the attack, now directed them again to advance, and then every obstacle was overcome. General Philippon with a few hundred men escaped across the Guadiana, and threw himself into Fort St. Cristoval, where he surrendered on the following morning. On the side of the allies about 1000 were slain, and from 4000 to 5000 wounded. The French lost about 1500 men slain, and nearly 4000 were taken prisoners. In Baclajoz from 3000 to 4000 Spaniards, English, and Portuguese, who had been taken prisoners by the French, were found, and were consequently released. It was on the 7th of April that Lord Wellington captured Badajoz, and on the 8th Soult had collected his army at Villa-franca, between Llerena and Merida; but hearing of the fall of the place he commenced a retreat to Seville. He was warmly pursued by the British cavalry, who cut up his rear-guard at Villa Garcia.



OPERATIONS IN SPAIN.

As soon as Lord Wellington had captured Badajoz he endeavoured to put the place into a state of defence. His lordship, however, had but little time to attend to this important measure. Marmont was at this time making himself strong in the north, and was blockading both the Spanish fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo and the fortress of Almeida. Leaving General Hill in the south, therefore, his lordship, on the 13th of April moved the main body of his army back to the north. Marmont now retreated to Salamanca, hoping to effect a junction with Soult; but he was prevented from this step by the capture of the strong forts which the French had erected at Almaraz on the Tagus, and which were captured by General Hill. At length, on the 13th of June, Lord Wellington broke up from his cantonments between the Coa and the Agueda with about 40,000 men, leaving General Hill near Almaraz with 12,000 more. As his lordship advanced into Spain, he received reports that Marmont was about to be re-enforced by a division consisting of nearly seven thousand men. Marmont already counted 40,000 infantry, 3000 artillery, and 4000 cavalry, so that he already had a decided superiority in numbers. Still Wellington pursued his march, and the whole of his army arrived upon the Val Musa rivulet, about six miles from Salamanca, on the 16th of June. Some of the cavalry and infantry of the enemy lay in front of the town of Salamanca; but they were driven in by the British, and Marmont evacuated the town in the night, leaving a garrison of some eight hundred men, in forts constructed on the rains of colleges and convents, which commanded the bridge that crosses the river Tormes. The allies, however, forded the river in places above and below the bridge, and on the 17th entered the town. Marmont made some efforts to relieve the forts which were now invested; but they were all taken by the 27th, and he then took up a strong position on the northern bank of the Duero. He was followed by Wellington, who took up a line on the southern bank of that river directly opposite to his opponent. Early in July Marmont was re-enforced by the expected division, and on the 11th of that month he threw two divisions across the Duero at Toro, when Wellington moved his army to the left to concentrate it on the Guareha, an affluent of the Duero. Marmont now ascended the northern bank of the river with his whole army, and again crossed over to the southern bank of the Duero, and assembled at Nava del Bey. He succeeded in re-establishing his communications with King Joseph and the army of the centre, which was advancing from Madrid to join him. The two armies remained on the opposite banks of the Guarena till the 20th of July, on which day they moved towards the Tormes in parallel lines. They crossed the Tormes on the following day; the allied army passing by the bridge of Salamanca, and the French by the fords higher up the river. The hostile troops were still facing each other, and both armies were still near Salamanca. In the course of the night Lord Wellington was informed that Marmont was about to be joined by the cavalry and horse-artillery of the north. No time was to be lost, and his lordship determined, if circumstances should not permit him to attack Marmont on the morrow, he would then move towards Ciudad Rodrigo. The morning of the morrow was spent in anxious suspense by the allies, birt the enemy gave no indication of his design to commence battle till noon, when some confusion was observed in his ranks. After a great variety of skilful manouvres on both sides, Marmont, inspired with the hope of destroying at one blow the whole English army, extended his line in order to enclose his allies within the position which they had taken up. This was an error of which Wellington immediately took advantage. Nearly the whole of his army was brought opposite to the enemy's left, and an attack was commenced upon that wing. Three divisions, under Generals Leith, Cole, and Cotton, charged in front, while General Pakenham formed another across the enemy's flank. This movement decided the victory. The left wing first, then the centre, and finally the right wing were defeated, and as the evening closed the whole force of the enemy was in total rout. The first great blow was given to the power of the French in Spain. In this battle the French lost three generals slain, and Marmont, Bonnet, and Clausel were wounded. Their total loss in killed and wounded was very great, and they left 7000 prisoners, eleven guns, and two eagles in the hands of the conquerors. The loss of the allies was also great, nearly 5000 being slain and wounded: among the slain was General Le Marchant, and among the wounded Generals Beresford, Leith, Cole, Spry, and Cotton; The pursuit of the enemy was renewed next day beyond the Tormes, when the British troops succeeded in capturing three brigades. In the course of the day Marmont was joined by a corps of 1200 cavalry from the army of the north, which covered the retreat of the centre as it hastened toward Valladolid. The pursuit was continued on the 24th, and the enemy was driven from Valladolid towards Burgos. Lord Wellington reached Valladolid the eighth day after the battle, and here he gave over the pursuit in order to make another important movement. On the day after the battle of Salamanca King Joseph had marched from the Escurial with 20,000 men, for the purpose of joining Marmont. On arriving at Arevalo he heard of Mar-mont's defeat, and he then marched off by the right to Segovia, to attempt a diversion in favour of Clausel, who was now leading the retreating army. Lord Wellington therefore quitted Valladolid, recrossed the Duero, and marched against King Joseph, leaving a force on the Duero under General Paget to watch Clausel. King Joseph now retreated towards Madrid, whither he was followed by Lord Wellington, and from whence he was driven by his lordship. The British forces entered Madrid on the 12th of August, and was received with enthusiastic acclamations. Joseph fled to the left bank of the Tagus to rally his army between Aranjuez and Toledo, leaving a garrison in the Retiro palace. The troops found in the Retiro, however, were made prisoners of war on the 14th of August, so that Lord Wellington had complete possession of the Spanish capital. He appointed Don Carlos de Espaha Governor of Madrid, and the new constitution which the Cortes had made at Cadiz was proclaimed with great exultation. The air resounded with the shouts of "Long live the Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo! long live Wellington!" Subsequently a deputation waited upon his lordship with a congratulatory address, to which he wisely replied: "The events of the war are in the hands of Providence."

In consequence of the capture of Madrid Soult raised the blockade of Cadiz, abandoned the whole of Western Andalusia, and concentrated his forces in Grenada. His retreat to Grenada was very disastrous: his army suffered greatly from the attacks of the allied force of the English and Spanish, the occasional attacks of the armed peasantry, and from the excessive heat and famine. In the meantime General Hill advanced from the Guadiana to the Tagus, and connected his operations with those of Wellington. On his approach, Joseph Buonaparte abandoned the line of the Tagus, and fell back to Almanza in Murcia, that he might preserve the line of communication with Soult in Granada, and Suchet on the borders of Valencia and Catalonia. By the close of August General Hill occupied all the places on the south of Madrid, and which occupation enabled him to cover the right of the allied army. These successes, however, were far from completing the recovery of Spain, and the situation of Lord Wellington in the Spanish capital was yet very critical. So ineffective was the aid which the natives afforded, and so great the military power which yet remained to be subdued, that a triumphant result was still uncertain. In a little time, indeed, Lord Wellington saw himself menaced by the three armies of the south, the centre, and the north, and he was compelled to retreat from Madrid. Before he commenced his retreat he made an attempt to capture Burgos: an attempt which failed chiefly from want of the requisite means of success. Lord Wellington now moved towards the Duero, and marched upon Salamanca, where he hoped to establish himself; but Soult having united his forces with those of Souham, which had advanced from Burgos, obliged him to continue his retreat. He effected his retreat in a masterly manner, before an army of 90,000 men, against which he could only oppose about 50,000, and on the 24th of November, he fixed his head-quarters at Freynada, on the Portuguese frontier. King Joseph now returned once more to Madrid, while Soult, who took the chief command of the combined French armies, established his head-quarters at Toledo, with his right wing resting on Salamanca. A great outcry was raised against Lord Wellington in England, on account of this retreat; but, fortunately, ministers were satisfied with the explanation of his motives, and resolved to send him all the assistance in their power. His lordship employed the winter months in rendering his army more effective, that he might in the ensuing campaign enter on a more decisive and extended course of operations. For this purpose he proceeded to Cadiz, to make arrangements for the co-operation of the Spanish armies, when it was settled that 50,000 troops should be placed at his disposal. This was full proof that the Cortes still placed confidence in him. They augured, indeed, that under the direction of so great a leader, those troops would pitch their tents on the banks of the Seine. The president remarked, "It would not be the first time that the Spanish lions had there trampled on the old fleur-de-lys of France."



WAR BETWEEN FRANCE AND RUSSIA.

It has been seen that the Emperor of Russia had declared war against Napoleon. Thwarted in his ambitious views upon the Ottoman empire, which he had been led to expect would be realized from the treaty of Tilsit, Alexander first became cool towards his brother spoliator, and then openly broke with him. Great preparations were made on both sides for the gigantic struggle, and Napoleon resolved to humble the czar in his own dominions. With an army of about 800,000 men he crossed the Vistula in June, and his onward march was a series of triumphs. The Russians everywhere retreated before him, until he came to the plains of Moscow, where he fought a hard battle with an army under Kutusoff, over whom he gained a victory. Moscow now fell into the hands of the conqueror. He entered it on the 14th of September, and took up his residence at the Kremlin, the ancient palace of the czars. But here his triumphs ended. The Russians had only retreated before him in order to allure him to destruction. Their plan was to avoid a battle till the enemy should be cut off from support, and till winter, famine, and fatigue had wasted his resources. And in order to ensure this final result they were willing to make large sacrifices. Smolensko was reduced to ashes, while Napoleon was on his route to Moscow, lest it should afford a shelter to his troops, and Napoleon had not been long in the imperial city, when the flames were seen casting their lurid glare to heaven on every side. In a brief space Moscow was in ruins, and Napoleon was compelled, in the month of October, to give orders to his troops to return to France. Few of his proud army, however, were destined again to behold their native country.

"Now did the Most High Exalt his still small voice; to quell that host, Gathered his mighty power, a manifest ally; He, whose heaped waves confounded the proud boast Of Pharaoh, said to Famine, Snow, and France, 'Finish the strife by deadliest victory.'" —Wordsworth

Scarcely had Napoleon commenced his retrograde march when the snow, like a violent storm of the Alps, beat around the devoted heads of his soldiers, and their progress was henceforth a combat against their pitiless foes the Cossacks, who hovered around them, and the still more pitiless elements. Danger awaited him at every step and on every hand, and when he arrived on the margin of the Beresina, his vast army was reduced to about 14,000 men. And not all these reached France. The Russians under Wittgenstein now appeared in his rear, and one of his divisions was either destroyed or captured. Napoleon had passed over the Beresina with a part of his army by means of two frail bridges, leaving the defence of the retreat to Victor. A scene ensued which defies description. The retreating French tumbled each other into the stream, or voluntarily rushed in to escape the fire of the Russians; and in the midst of their terror one of the bridges gave way, and the crowd passing over it perished. When that river was frozen, it presented to the eye of the beholder one vast heap of human beings. Those who gained the opposite bank were saved, and Napoleon, leaving them under the care of Murat, repaired to Paris. He was stripped of everything; and yet he hoped to repair his fortunes. It is said that in the beginning of the next year, when the snow had melted away, 300,000 human bodies and 160,000 dead horses were burnt upon the Russian soil.